Is it deserved? No. If we're being honest, it's not. There are dozens of companies that are technically, legitimately, actually worse than EA in terms of how much harm they directly cause people, and many of them are on this list. Rather, Consumerist's poll doesn't gauge this. Instead, it's a measure of how annoyed the internet is with a certain brand at the moment.

For as long as this contest is about that, EA is sure to be victorious unless they make some major changes.

Links from a hundred gaming sites and countless threads on forums like /v/, NeoGAF and Reddit all but ensured EA's victory here from day one. It was never going to be close, and EA won this year with 78% of the vote. There are simply not enough equivalent communities on the internet where people go to complain about Bank of America's fee structures or United's carry-on bag policies en masse, except of course Consumerist itself.

EA could see their future in the tea leaves this time around, and began to fight the PR war early. The result was a quasi-apology from COO Peter Moore. Sure, he said things like the company "made plenty of mistakes" and that they "owe gamers a better performance," but it's the rest of what he said that only angered the public more.

He chalked up the company's performance in the poll to those convinced that SimCity's always-on requirement is for DRM reasons. It isn't, he says, but no one, fans or press, believe that. He also says that people are upset about who EA chose for the cover of Madden, and they've also been nominated as Worst Company because hate groups are upset that they include gay and lesbian characters in their games.

The press all simultaneously pushed back against this piece (our own Erik Kain did a great job of it), but Consumerist itself came out and declared that no one writing in to nominate EA for Worst Company ever even mentioned Madden's cover or EA's support of the gay community.

What are the real issues? Well, the same ones that came up last year, though EA has only doubled down on many of them. There's always-on DRM, which caused the SimCity launch to be one of the biggest gaming disasters in recent memory. EA will never convince players that requiring an internet connection for the game was mandatory for the game to work, because that sentence simply doesn't make sense. Games have had offline and online modes for eons, and forcing a game to only be played online is either A) a shrewd DRM decision or B) a poorly designed way for a game to function, especially one many people want to play alone.

Microtransactions are another avenue where EA has drawn fan ire. They first said they wanted all their games to include microtransactions, even titles that already cost $60 up front. They later backtracked on that statement, saying they wanted all mobile games to have them, but that didn't stop them from putting them into fully priced games like Dead Space 3 anyway.

The list goes on. Star Wars: The Old Republic was a disaster of titanic proportions, losing EA millions (if not hundreds of millions) and causing fans to blame them for causing Bioware to fumble a concept that should have been a slam dunk, a Star Wars MMO.

Eventually, CEO John Riccitiello stepped down after all these controversies resulted in rather terrible numbers for the company. But can you say a company is "the worst" just because they perform badly?

No, but that's not the issue here. It's this constant, public perception that EA is refusing to take responsibility for their own failures and mistreatment of their customers. Sure, Peter Moore has the right to go to bat for his company, but that "apology" post perfectly encapsulated everything wrong with the public's perception of EA.

The claim that SimCity is always on not for DRM reasons simply sounds like a lie to everyone playing the game (or not playing, depending on the state of the internet). And to say that they're winning a poll like this because of upset Madden fans or homophobia is ridiculous, and Consumerist's response backed that up.

EA needs solutions, not excuses. They are not the worst company in America, nor are they evil, but their brand has been so tarnished by so many of these seemingly anti-consumer policies that they're stuck in running joke status among fans and the press alike. Perception is reality, and simply arguing your point of view isn't going to be enough to change people's minds. No, the contest isn't remotely unbiased. No, people don't actually think you're doing more harm to the world than
BP or BoA. But this is a real problem and it needs to be treated as such.

The problem is that EA is stuck. Policies like DRM, microtransactions and attempting to emulate their competitor's hits are what got them in this mess, but they see it as the only way out. DRM prevents piracy, so that's more money saved in their eyes. Microtransactions are effort free cash generators. Closely emulating a successful game is a guaranteed way to sell at least a few extra copies. EA has to feel like if they stop doing any of these, they'll lose out on these revenue sources, and everyone will still dislike them. So what to do?

There's no easy answer for EA here. Yes, there are simple things they could stop doing in order to win a few fans back and show they're learning. Ensure their games can be played offline if need be. Don't shoehorn in microtransactions when they're not required. And so on.

But mostly, a game company needs good games to thrive. No, it is in no way easy to create a game that's a hit on the scale of World of Warcraft or Call of Duty, but producing titles like The Old Republic or Battlefield/Medal of Honor that seem like mere imitators isn't enough. They see a future in mobile, but if they start looking at Zynga as a company whose practices they should emulate, that's going down a dark path.

I don't know how EA will respond to their win this time around. Will they shrug it off like they did last year? Will they continue to make excuses like we saw last week? Or will they own up, look us in the eye and simply say "we will do better," and mean it? No blame shifting, no excuses, just...tangible change we can all see.

EA is responsible for many of my favorite games, and despite the criticism I level at them, I want them to be around making these titles for a long time to come. I hope they understand the areas in which they need to change, because only then will I stop having to write articles like this one.